Sharing knowledge

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has a simple message for members on its website – “Everything you plan and build is underpinned by knowledge.”

Active in 92 countries and with over 19,000 members worldwide, CIBSE has specialist groups covering everything from energy performance to ventilation. It is an authority on building services engineering and is internationally recognised for setting the standards for best practice in the profession. It also promotes accredited higher education courses and approved work-based training programmes.

Knowledge Portal

The availability and sharing of knowledge and information is at the heart of what CIBSE does, and it publishes a wide range of

guides and commissioning codes. These publications were previously purchased by members in addition to the membership fees they paid, however CIBSE decided to offer free access to these documents to members via a new online ‘Knowledge Portal’ in order to both retain members and gain new ones.

Hart Square, an independent specialist in providing CRM services for not-for-profit (NFP) and membership organisations, was asked to help bring all of CIBSE’s publications online through the Knowledge Portal in order to deliver value and benefit to CIBSE’s members and stakeholders.

Nick Peake, Head of Knowledge at CIBSE, takes up the story: “When detailing the specifications for this project, Hart Square immediately recognised our vision to not only raise our profile

within the engineering profession, but also lead in our use of technology. Fundamentally, we wanted to provide a platform to share information and engage users, broaden our readership and reach a wider majority in the profession, as well as retain and attract new local and international membership.”

At the same time the portal also had to serve the functions of a bookshop, supporting sales of hardcopy of both CIBSE titles and a selection of other partnering publishers’ documents and, for the first time, the sale of electronic versions of CIBSE’s documents.”

Complex matrix

Many organisations struggle when trying to define the rules, logic and business processes around how access is granted, which products

Case study – Engineering

Hart Square helps CIBSE increase member engagement

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Hart Square helps bring all of CIBSE’s publications online through a Knowledge Portal to deliver benefits to its members

Key benefits

With Hart Square’s CRM solution knowledge and expertise, CIBSE now has an online Knowledge Portal that enables the organisation to:

•��raise�its�profile�within�the�engineering profession

•��share�information�and�engage�users

•�broaden�its�readership�and�reach�a�wider majority in the profession

•�retain�and�attract�new�local�and�international membership.

members or non-members see and what prices are applied to them. Nick Peake explained: “Hart Square applied expert consultancy and technical resource to a complex access/pricing matrix to ensure that the right people were able to access the right information at the right time. What seemed on paper to be a simple requirement was technically very challenging. Hart Square put in a lot of time and effort to ensure the functionality was right, giving us more ownership and control and effectively future proofing our investment.”

CIBSE’s CRM had to manage all access to the portal by validating members versus non-members. With in-depth knowledge of CIBSE’s CRM and configuration, Hart Square was able to outline the full criteria, detail the applied logic and provide technical resource for practical application and testing of the CRM integration.

“Hart Square’s experience on a previous project, for the implementation of Online Applications, also meant they were in the best position to link this element to the Knowledge Portal

as well as to our main website,” explained Nick Peake.

Phased approach

As with many online/CRM projects, requirements can and do change. Hart Square was heavily involved in advising CIBSE, reassessing priorities and flagging up potential risks in this complex project. Nick Peake added: “When you generate revenue online, it automatically poses security risks. We initially considered high levels of access control and management. Hart Square was very helpful in highlighting the risks of having overly stringent controls on access to the portal and advised us that such controls could become counter-intuitive to the initial aims of the project.”

Hart Square recommended a phased approach to the project, allowing CIBSE to reduce scope and time on the administration of content and providing a basic structure sufficient for the portal to go live. “One of the most challenging aspects was co-ordinating all the separate parties, i.e. CIBSE staff, two software development

companies and the KP’s users,” said Nick Peake. “Hart Square helped us to overcome this challenge by keeping the pace and focus of all parties involved with regular milestones and updates. Having this independent, external perspective proved to be really valuable.”

He added: “The phased approach meant we could tactically meet these requirements short term, but also continue to develop the system for maximum ROI in the future. Hart Square managed to adapt the project plan in line with our changing business requirements.”

In addition to project management and technical CRM consultancy, Hart Square managed people and supplier relationships. “This was absolutely critical to the success of this project,” explained Nick Peake. “Resources had to be carefully planned, not just for on-going progress, but specifically for testing the beta and live versions of the portal. Hart Square documented all internal procedures for us, which was a valuable exercise in itself, but also key for any future development. They also provided practical support, such as troubleshooting and training, as well as continued guidance on the improvement and future phases of the portal. Members get a wealth of information at their fingertips, with documents inter-linked providing a comprehensive information resource.”

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Key services provided

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•� �Ensured�practical�application�and�testing of the CRM

•� enabled�integration�between�the�Knowledge Portal and CIBSE’s main website.

Knowledge Portal launch

Hart Square was successful in steering CIBSE towards the launch of the Knowledge Portal at the end of 2011. What the organisation now has is an accessible, readily searchable collection of electronic books and documents including guides, commissioning codes, application manuals, and technical memoranda relating to building services.

“CIBSE members now have seamless access to view online and/or download full texts as electronic files with the option to purchase hard copies at a discounted member price,” explained Nick Peake. “This is delivered via the tight integration with our CRM, which authenticates members when they enter their login details through the portal.”

Non-members coming to the Knowledge Portal site are able to either purchase hardcopy or digital PDF versions or choose to complete a “Quick Join” application form and pay for their membership there and then. This gives them instant member privileges and allows them immediate access to view and download publications. Nick Peake added: “There is less administrative burden, as all the data is then written back directly to CIBSE’s CRM database, which captures all new joiners. There really is nothing in the way to delay membership growth.”

Measuring success

Reporting and analysis were cited as key requirements for the project in order to show the return on investment to stakeholders.

“This is why the integration and methods of data capture were so important,” added Nick Peake.

CIBSE identified three key trends:

• Retention of members during this renewal period is ahead of previous years and a further increase should be evident following a full marketing strategy in 2012

• There is a slow but steady number of new members joining via the portal since it went live at the end of 2011. Again, CIBSE expects a marketing campaign to increase this

• 33% of visitors to the portal have been from overseas, showing a significant increase in international members and CIBSE contacts (potential members) accessing the portal, now from 151 countries around the world.

“There were nearly 10,000 visitors to the portal in the first two months, with 70% of these being new visitors,” said Nick Peake. “The portal gives us the ability to reach a much wider audience which previously remained relatively untapped, so we think this is only the start. Engagement with members is a huge factor in further development and

success of the portal. Building in social media will allow for greater communication, stronger ties with members and increased levels of engagement. This in turn will allow us to generate better content, directly utilising the input of our members. This feedback process means our services be dynamic and remain relevant.”

Hart Square is already involved in developing the next version of the Knowledge Portal as part of a phased development programme in terms of helping to define the functional specification, prioritising requirements and project management alongside a wider review of CIBSE’s IT strategy currently underway.

Search functionality, the nature of the content and integration with social media are part of the future development plans. “We are developing publication content into interactive working documents that can be tailored or adapted to meet the needs of the profession,” explained Nick Peake.

He concluded: “Hart Square’s people are easy to work with, flexible, knowledgeable and patient. We have relied on them a lot and they’ve always been there for us.”

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“Hart Square commissioned robust reports from the Knowledge Portal and uses Google Analytics to capture member engagement,” explained Nick Peake.

Tel: 0344 567 8790 Email: info@hartsquare.co.uk